thomatkinson

P.S. I forgot to ask - what ratio do you use to thin the varnish with the Vallejo Airbrush Thinner?

Thanks both - that's a great help - I'll give it a try

Thanks for the response! I am spraying over the top of a gloss coat and there is no orange peel effect on that gloss coat - it all looks good until I put on the satin. I also use light passes with the airbrush. So I'm thinking it must be to do with the thinning with water... So, I think I'll try using Vallejo thinner next as you suggest. Is there a particular thinner? If you have the time I'd really appreciate a link to the product you use.

Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone had any advice about airbrushing with Vallejo Acrylic Satin Varnish? Although it's now supposedly pre-thinned for airbrush use, it seems very thick. When I airbrush with it straight from the bottle, it barely even sprays from the tip of the airbrush. The bottle suggests thinning with water if needed. More research led me to try thinning 50/50 with distilled water, but this gave an awful mottled/orange peel effect on the surface of my model and no amount of pressure changing or distance / speed alterations seemed to improve things. I think tried reducing the amount of water, with the idea that perhaps the water was drying out too quickly. I got much better results thinning about 75/25 water/thinner and other similar variations, but still not great and each either too thin or too thick. Can anyone suggest a better way? Or should I try a different product? Thanks for your help! Thom

Thanks Tim - that's a great help!

Hi there, I'd like to build my Revell Spitfire Mk II 1/32 with wheels up, but it appears as though I'll need to adapt the model somehow to do this. Has anyone had any experience of building with wheels up and how best to do it? Thanks in advance, Thom

Thanks Nick - a good point but at the moment I'm intending to use soft lighting, which will lessen this effect.

Dadgaddad, this sounds good - thanks for the reassurance and for taking the time - I'll get cracking I think!

Hi dadgaddad, thanks so much for the suggestion. This looks a great technique but I'm thinking it might not be quite right for this project. I'm worried that the line wash would create too much of a weathering effect - I want the panel lines to look just like this, but the rest of the aircraft body to look clean and unweathered. At the moment, I'm considering using a dark or medium grey primer over the whole model, which will give me the panel lines I want. Then airbrushing white over the top in lots of thin layers, in the hope that this will avoid filling in the panel lines with white and the primer will still be visible there. I'd then presumably need to use some sort of satin/semi matt varnish over the top to finish. What do you think - worth a go? Any problems you foresee with this plan? And any suggestions for the best paints to use for each stage?

Thanks for this - it sounds very straightforward, which is appealing! What do you think about the idea of pre-shading, so that the grooved details of the model stand out? Would this be possible in combination with the Halfords primer, or would the primer paint over any preshading? If you scroll down on this page - http://www.hyperscale.com/2008/features/bf109f221c32tb_1.htm- you'll see a photograph of a 109 which has been primed in white (ignore the yellow), but still retains some definition in the grooved and recessed details. This model is a darker grey plastic than my revell however, so I assume I'd need to preshade before priming... ?

Hi there, I wonder of anybody can give me some advice about painting? I’m a photographer working on a series of still life photographs of a white Spitfire. I’ve chosen to build a Revell 1/32 Spitfire Mk2. I’ve also collected together some basic tools and modelling supplies for the build. It’s been a long time, but I do have some experience of modelling and, along with the internet tutorials I’ve been studying up with, I feel fairly confident I can put together a respectable model which will at least photograph well. However… …Painting the model is a different matter - my experience with painting is pretty simple - just paint brushes dipped into pots of humbrol enamel really. I’d like to paint this model to a good standard and I’m going to need some advice to do it! I was hoping that somebody knowledgeble might be willing to suggest a workflow and some materials / equipment for my project. Here’s a run down of what I’m aiming for: The Spitfire will be completely white, including the interior. The white would ideally have a slight tone, rather than pure brillaint white. The only part of the model which won’t be painted white is the canopy glass, which will be masked as normal. There will be no pilot. The undercarriage will be up. There will be no weathering or distrsssing. Overall the object is to create a clean, slick, almost ghostly looking model. I’d like the finish of the model to have a slight semi-matt sheen to it. Not glossy, just a slight sheen. And I’m considering preshading the model, or priming with a darker grey, so that the detail and grooves in the bodywork have a little bit of definition. I’m open to any suggestions. I know very little. I’m up for anything. I think I need suggestions for a workflow, the necessary equipment and the neccessary paints and thinner, plus ratios etc. I’d love to hear any thoughts! Thank you and all best, Thom